Garter



J. M. VAN HEUSEN GARTER Sept. 23, 1924. v 1,509,500

Filed Nov. 21. 1923 awuenboz Patented Sept. 23, 1924.

Application filediNoye mbenm, 1322," Serial No. 602,338.

To all whomfit may concern:

Be itknown that-I, JOHN M. "VAN HEU- v tic "fabricsueh," for-iexample aspile fabric of the. nature!describedin my,-l?atent No.

1,351,932.9 1dr November,"2,+192Q.

'Iheipnrposejo'f my pinventionjis to providela. garter having Tenthe-inner surface of the. band. pontion .thereof pile'-.fabric, theconstruction bf said-garteribeing such the] band portion. thereof isfree to adjust it-. selftoanyshape or .sizeiof leg or drawers leg, andalso... sucln.thatlthe fpile surface of the handcompletely encloses thelegof the wearer and is in contact therewith at suhl ngactonfrointhe,pile fabric. As illusstantiallyall points including theportion at the frontpart. of the garter; which in most gartersconsists'of a triangular shaped p1ece of fabric to which'theloandrand the socksupporting device. are connected.

Myinvent-ionwill; be more fully described in connectionwith theaccompanying draw ingsdllustrative; of oneemhod1m'ent. thereof in which,

Fig. ;l is a view; showing,1,myimpnoved garter-.attachedcto the. upperinner edge of a sock or stocking;-

Fig. 2 is,a:view,showing.the garter, of

1 when worn onalegiofadiff'erent size and shape. I

Fig. 3 is anf enlarged view showingthe' construction of the-frontportion. of the showing oneweave of afpile fabric in which thepilethreads n w; anangle to the hody portionof the fabric. :1.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will heseen that the sock orstocking 1 issuppprted by the garter 2. which is attached to the said sock orstocking by means of the grip 3. The band 4: is provided with a velvet,velveteen, or like pile farbic surface 5, and the pile threads of thesaid pile surface are inclined at an angle to the back or body portionof the band as shown in Fig. 4. The band is so arranged that when thegarter is worn the pile threads on the inner surface of the that" saidhand willproject in a downward and. inwarddirectiony. It will seen thatany tendency of the garter to slip. downward. willhe resisted .hy theinclined pile threads. In fact it has beenfound that the expan sionlandcontraction of the muscles of the leg encircled by thelgarter operatesto proiucean actual tendency for the garter to work upward on the leg ordrawers leg of the 'wearer. This upward movement. however is notsopronounced as to'make the effectively to hold up the sock or stocking.

In garters of this type ,it is desirable in order to produce the mostsatisfactory and '@garter.uncomfort able but is strong enough completeresultsfthat-theipile fabric be in contact withltheileg at all points onthe innensurfac e of the encircling band, and it is equally importantthat the "said handbe W permitted. to adjust litself to the-particularshape of leg on which it is worn The garter shown in Figs. 1 and? is soconstructed as to insure theimaximum degree of support;

trated' in Figs. 1 and 2, the end portion 6 of thezhand is secured tothe pin 7 of the supportingstrip 8 to form the pivot arrangementillustrated in detail in Fig.

and the. free endportion 9 of the hand is adjust itself to the shape orform of the V wearers lee Also the pilev surface extends substantiallyentirely, around the leg of the,

wearer and closes atthe front so that a maximum area of contactafforded.

In Figslpl and 2. my invention is shown on legs of diifenent ,form and,shape, and as indicated, the garter. in adjusting itself to the shap eof the led shown in igure '1. takes on a somewhat diiferent positionfrom that which it has when on the leg shown in Fig. 2. will he'obviousthat if the band d of the garter; were permanentlyfastened in one"position to the "supporting strip 8 it would be prevented fromadjusting itself to the wearers leg and, consequently, the effectiveaction of the pile threads on the said band would he interfered with.

Fig. 3 illustrates one way in which the attached end 6 of the hand maybe secured to the supporting strip 8, so that the said end 6 is free torotate around said point of attachment. The projections 11 and 12 nearthe base of the pin 7 limit the rotation of the pivoted end 6 of theband. That is to say, these projections prevent the end 6 of the bandfrom turning completely around on the pin 7, but do not in any wayhinder the band from adjusting itself .to any type or shape of leg uponwhich the garter may be worn. V

The reason for thus limiting the motion of the attached end 6 of theband is to make it impossible for a wearer inadvertently to apply thegarter to his leg with the contact filaments of the pile fabric directedupwardly instead of downwardly. It will be apparent from Figs. 1 and 2that in the absence of means for preventing the free rotation of end 6of the band, the band might be placed around the leg in the wrongdirection, that is, so the end 6 would be on the opposite side of thepin from that on which it is illustrated. If this were done the pilethreads 5 instead of being downwardly and inwardly directed would pointupwardly and inwardly and thus the garter, assisted by gravity and theaction of the pile threads, would tend to work down the leg and falloff. In the garter construction of my present invention, however, thispossibility is wholly avoided by the use of projections 11 and 12 orother similar means.

While I have illustrated and described only one embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that the invention may be carried outin other ways than that illustrated and described. The maincharacteristic feature of the invention is providing a garter of theband type having a suitable pile facing of the character described in myPatent #1357929, with a device which permits the'movement and adjustmentwithin defined limits of the garter band on the leg of the wearer, sothat the maximum effective action of the pile surface is obtained,

and also to provide a contact of the pile fabric at the front of thewearers leg as well as at the side and rear portion thereof.

I am aware that it is well known in the art to provide a cord attachmenton garters which serves to fasten or hold together the two ends of theband portion and also the sock supporting device. and I make no claim tosuch a garter.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation, and I have no intention, in the useof such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of thefeatures shown and described, or portions thereof, but recognize thatvarious modifications are possible within the scope of the inventionclaimed.

hat I claim is:

1. In a band garter, the combination of a leg encircling band of pilefabric presenting on its inner surface contact filaments downwardly andinwardly inclined to the leg or drawers leg of the wearer, a socksupporting strip, a permanent pivotal connection between. one end of thesaid leg encircling band and. the said sock supporting strip, means forpivotally attaching the free end of the leg encircling band to the saidpivotal connection, and means for limiting the pivotal motion of thepermanently attached end of the leg encircling band without hinderingthe free adjustment of said band to the leg.

2. In a band garter, the combination of a non-elastic leg encirclingband presenting on its inner surface contact filaments downwardly andinwardly inclined to the leg or drawers leg of the wearer, a socksupporting strip, a pin attached to said sock supporting strip,permanent pivotal connection between said pin and one end of said legencircling band, means for attaching the free end. of said legencircling band to the said pin and means on the sock supporting stripfor limiting the pivotal motion of the ermanently attached end of theleg encire ing hand without hindering the free adjustment of said bandto the leg.

3. A non-elastic band garter adapted to adjust itself to any form orsize of leg, comprisin leg encircling band provided on its inner surfacewith pile fabric presenting contact filaments downwardly and inwardlyinclined to the leg or drawers leg of the wearer, a sock supportingstrip having thereon a pin one end of said leg encircling band beingpivot-ally attached to the pin on said sock supporting strip, the freeend of the leg encircling band having thereon an attaching deviceadapted to pivotally connect said free end of said band with said pin.and two projections near the base of the said pin. which limit thepivotal motion of the attached end of the band and prevent the garterfrom being applied to the leg with thecontact filaments upwardlydirected.

JOHN M. VAN HEUSEN.

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